ANDREW NEIL shut down the Solicitor General Robert Buckland after he described the common rulebook from Theresa May’s soft Brexit plan as “a new concept”.

Andrew Neil gave Solicitor General Robert Buckland a grilling after he described Theresa May’s Brexit common rulebook as a new concept, saying: “It is not a common rulebook, it’s the EU’s rulebook.”

Mr Buckland, the Solicitor General told BBC Daily Politics’s Andrew Neil: “It is a new concept and it reflects the reality of our common framework in regards to goods and agriculture.”

Mrs May has proposed a UK-EU free trade area which would establish a common rulebook for industrial goods and agricultural products.

Mr Neil said: “It is the existing EU rulebook which we have adopted but if we leave the European Union in this scenario we cannot adopt it.

Andrew Neil grilled Solicitor General Robert Buckland over the common rulebook proposals (Image: BBC)

It is not a common rulebook, it’s the EU’s rulebook

Andrew Neil

“It is not a common rulebook, it’s the EU’s rulebook.

“Explain to me if we are out of the EU and the rule book is controlled by the European Union, explain to me how Britain as a non-member of the European Union could change the rule book.”

However, she has signalled that different arrangements would be made for services, which make up around 80 percent of the UK economy, where the Government is seeking a greater degree of flexibility.

Mrs May’s deal has also proposed a facilitated customs arrangement, which would see the UK apply its own tariffs and trade policy for goods imported into the country, while the EU’s tariffs and trade policy would be implemented for goods destined for the EU.

Exporters would therefore be charged EU tariffs, and the UK would be obliged to transfer collected duties back to Brussels.

Speaking to Fox News, Nigel Farage said: "I’m now of the view that if she stays as Prime Minister, we will not get the Brexit we voted for, we will not be able to sing a trade deal with America and other big countries around the world.

"We would be taking rules from elsewhere without having a say. It would prevent us, probably, from making a deal with America and other countries.

"It is nothing less than a total betrayal of what people had voted for in that referendum and general election."

Mrs May had her Cabinet sign up to the new plans during an intense gathering at her Chequers retreat but Government soon after descended into chaos as two leading Brexiteer ministers, David Davis and Boris Johnson, quit their posts.